Unbiased Reviews and Undercover Price Research on Local Services

In 2001 a handful of older residents of Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood became concerned about how they would stay in their neighborhood and their homes into their 80s and 90s. This led to the founding of the country’s first elder village, Beacon Hill Village, a volunteer neighborhood group designed to provide social connections and practical assistance to older adults. There are now hundreds of these villages in the U.S., with many more in development. Some cover an entire county, others focus on small, often walkable neighborhoods.

Each village offers a range of services and benefits, from finding teenagers to play chess with residents to helping with grocery shopping. Typically, a small tax-deductible fee (usually $100 to $500 a year, with many villages offering scholarships for lower-income residents) lets members take advantage of benefits like rides to medical appointments, dog-walking, yard work, home fix-ups, and tech assistance. The most active villages also offer social activities like book clubs and walking groups.

If there’s no village in your area, you can help found one. You’ll need to:

Organize a group of nearby neighbors interested in staying in their homes.

Visit vtvnetwork.org to learn about the village model and for referrals to other resources.

Decide on a geographic area you’d like to cover. Many active villages serve smaller walkable neighborhoods; some encompass whole counties.

Evaluate whether you’d like to operate the village as a primarily volunteer operation (lower operating costs and lower membership fees) or a staffed organization. Volunteer villages often grow into staffed villages as membership increases.

Can you establish a brick-and-mortar headquarters, or do you want to run the village remotely? Again, both have advantages and disadvantages. Having a physical location often benefits members, but it can be expensive.

You can sign up for a six-month Opportunity Member Trial Membership with the Village to Village Network for $125, with access to its library of documents, webinars, toolkits, and other resources. (Regular memberships cost $425/year per village.)

Sign up with the Village to Village Network mentor program to get an experienced organizer to help you plan and develop your village (included in Opportunity Member fee).

Below, we list the active villages we could find for the Washington area. Did we miss any? Have an update to the info we collected? Email us at [email protected] We’ll try to keep this list up to date.

Cleveland & Woodley Park Village

Open to anyone living in the neighborhoods of Woodley Park and Cleveland Park, bounded to the north by Upton and Tilden streets, to the east by Rock Creek Park and the National Zoological Park, to the south by Calvert Street and Massachusetts Avenue, and to the west by the Glover-Archibald Trail.

Dupont Circle Village

Open to anyone living in Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan, and Kalorama, bounded to the north by Calvert St NW, to the east by 14th St NW, to the south by Pennsylvania
Ave NW and to the west by Rock Creek Park.

Palisades Village

Open to age 50+ residents of: Berkley, Foxhall, Kent, Palisades, Spring Valley, and Wesley Heights; roughly bounded by Massachusetts Ave. to the north and east, Potomac River to the south and west, and Dalecarlia Pkwy to the north.

Bannockburn Neighbors Assisting Neighbors

For Bannockburn residents living in the
area from River Road to MacArthur
Boulevard and from Goldsboro Road to Booze Creek.

Transportation, errands, technology assistance, equipment loans, fire and safety inspections, friendly visits, educational and social programs, meals, referrals to professional service providers and community resources.

Free.

Bethesda Metro Area Village

Open to age 50+ residents in these boundaries: Huntington Pkwy to the north, Old Georgetown road to the east, Bradley Blvd. to the south and west; includes neighborhoods of Battery Park, South Bradley Hills, Bradley Village, Edgemoor, English Village, and Greenwich Forest.

Chevy Chase at Home

Open to residents age 60+ in these neighborhoods (Associate members may be any age): Chevy Chase Village, Town of Chevy Chase, Village of Drummond, Chevy Chase Section 3, Chevy Chase Section 5, Martin’s Addition, Rollingwood, Old Hamlet, Chevy Chase West, and unincorporated areas in the boundaries of Wisconsin Avenue, Montgomery Avenue, Beach Drive, and Western Avenue.

Friendship Heights Neighbors Network

Open to anyone living in the high-rise buildings of The Carleton, The Willoughby, The Elizabeth, 4701 Willard Ave., Highland House, Highland House West, 4620 North Park Avenue, and 4615 North Park Avenue.

Greater Stonegate Village

Open to all residents of the Greater Stonegate community, within the boundaries of New Hampshire Avenue to the east, Cutstone Way to the west, and Bonifant Road to the south (but includes all of Pebbleston Drive and its offshoots).

McLean Community Village Association

Community events, discounted services, social and educational programs, interest groups, Senior Source (questions answered and referrals provided by phone, email, or in person at regularly-scheduled times at a local location).

Free.

Mount Vernon at Home

Open to all adult residents of Mount Vernon, within the rough boundaries of Cameron Run on the north, Potomac River on the east, Dogue Creek on the south, and Richmond Hwy. to Telegraph Rd. to South Kings Hwy. on the west.